Perhaps we can admire the strength of a leader to concede, rather than describe any concession as weakness. Most people woke up to a barrage of headlines about Russia over the weekend. One and all, they trumpeted Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s “weakness” after what has been described as a fizzled coup. Careful what you wish Continue reading »
World Affairs
Coverage of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam and Nord Stream pipelines shows a western media willing to prioritise anti-Russian propaganda over facts. The hypocrisy gets starker by the day. The same western media that strains to warn of the dangers of disinformation – at least when it comes to rivals on social media – Continue reading »
Some thoughts on the insurrection attempt in Russia. I wonder who or what lured Yevgeny Prigozhin into staging this farce. In twelve or so hours things are likely to have calmed down. ‘Western’ anal-cysts will spend weeks fantasising about their wished for outcome which, of course, was never to happen. The whole story reminds me of Continue reading »
Does it want to maintain its “primacy” or improve the livelihood of its people? Washington today lacks “sophisticated, long-term thinking on geopolitical issues,” said Kishore Mahbubani, Singaporean political scientist and distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. He said Biden should adopt a different policy from the Trump administration toward China Continue reading »
The only possible winner is Ukraine. Both Putin and Prigozhin are losers. The situation remains unclear and what happens next remains to be seen. Rationality does not seem to be part of events. Prigozhin’s attempted coup appears to have failed for lack of support from the Russian military. Given his constant carping criticism of the Continue reading »
Over the past eighteen months, I’ve often found myself under scrutiny for not outrightly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Any acknowledgment of Russia’s stance—that the hasty expansion of NATO played a role in the current conflict—earns labels: indifferent to Ukraine’s plight, a “Putin” apologist, a victim of Kremlin misinformation. After much contemplation, I’ve traced the Continue reading »
Late April, at my son’s decree, we went to the Ramadan Night Markets in Lakemba. A visit that would lead to a decades-old mystery being solved. A story that sheds light on the displacement and pain we have experienced since our world was torn apart by Zionism 75 years ago. A dear friend of mine Continue reading »
Call it Carr’s law. I’m pretty confident it withstands any testing. It’s simple: find someone talking up war with China and, if they were around 20 years ago, you find they were a supporter of the Iraq invasion. Few learn from error. On the other hand, stupidity is a constant in human affairs. Against it, Continue reading »
“We do not support Taiwan independence.” These were perhaps the most important six words spoken by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his China visit. They signalled the end of several years of deliberate ambiguity, vacillation and provocation in relation to US policy. Blinken took considered care to clearly restate US adherence to the Continue reading »
Any plan to try and end the Ukraine war needs to be welcomed if sincere, well-considered, unencumbered, and authored by a respected source. None of those criteria applies to the peace proposal from Prabowo Subianto at the 20th Asia Security Summit this month. The Singapore speech was outside his portfolio. It was delivered without clearance from Continue reading »